Field Trip!

Even though I've been downtown Chicago quite often, it was really fun to go there with new historical knowledge of the city. Taylor street was, as usual, beautiful. All around the UIC campus is the peaceful buzz of learning. Since we were there during school and working hours there weren't many people strolling the sidewalks. Here and there there were students passing between classes or an office worker on his/her lunch-break, but for the most part the streets were quiet. The only disappointment was that our destination, Mario's Italian Ice, was closed for the season. We couldn't figure out why since the temperature was in the upper eighties, but none the less it was closed.

The quaint Little Italy neighborhood is a living example of the history of Chicago. As we've read in the text and talked about in class, ethnic neighborhoods in Chicago have been ever-changing. There were still quite a few Italian restaurants, markets, etc. in the area, but we also noticed that many of the old Italian places had been turned into Thai places. On the end of Taylor Street closest to the UIC campus there was at least one Thai restaurant for every Italian restaurant, if not more. I happen to love Thai food, so for me this was not a problem, but we began to wonder how the Italian people who have lived there for generations feel about this shift in restaurant demographics. My new knowledge of the city has truly brought back to life its history.



Mario's



Jenni, Me (Rachel), and Alex in front of Mario's. There wasn't anyone else around, so we had to take the picture ourselves!



Waiting to catch the Blue Line at UIC-Halsted stop.